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EnglandPsychology

Paper 2: Applications of Psychology - Clinical psychology

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

What causes depression and anxiety disorders, and how are they treated?

Depression or anxiety: symptoms and diagnosis, biological and cognitive explanations, drug and psychological treatments, and the named studies for the chosen second disorder.
An Edexcel A-Level Psychology answer to the second clinical disorder, covering the symptoms and diagnosis of depression (and OCD as an anxiety option), biological and cognitive explanations including Beck and Ellis, drug and CBT treatments, GRAVE evaluation and named studies.
14 min answer →

How are mental disorders defined and diagnosed, and how reliable and valid is diagnosis?

Diagnosis of mental disorders: definitions of abnormality, the DSM and ICD classification systems, reliability and validity of diagnosis, and cultural and ethical issues.
An Edexcel A-Level Psychology answer to the diagnosis of mental disorders, covering definitions of abnormality, the DSM-5 and ICD-11 classification systems, the reliability and validity of diagnosis, Rosenhan's study, GRAVE evaluation and cultural and ethical issues.
14 min answer →

What are the symptoms, causes and treatments of schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia: symptoms and diagnosis, biological explanations (dopamine, genetics) and psychological explanations, biological and psychological treatments, and the named schizophrenia studies.
An Edexcel A-Level Psychology answer to schizophrenia, covering positive and negative symptoms, the dopamine hypothesis and genetic explanations, psychological explanations, antipsychotic drugs and CBT, GRAVE evaluation and the named schizophrenia studies.
14 min answer →

How does the medical model explain and treat mental disorders, and how does it compare with psychological approaches?

Treatments and the medical model: the assumptions of the medical model, drug therapies, the role of biochemistry, and a comparison with psychological treatments and their effectiveness.
An Edexcel A-Level Psychology answer to treatments and the medical model, covering the assumptions of the medical model, drug therapies and biochemistry, comparison with psychological treatments such as CBT, GRAVE evaluation and how treatment effectiveness is measured.
13 min answer →